What would happen if: Rabies consumed Europe?

Every fortnight survival expert Andy Hamilton writes a fresh column in our "What Would Happen If..." series, exploring the potential outcome of unpredictable threats to our everyday lives, and how to survive them.

There are no two ways about it: if left untreated, rabies is a vicious fiend. Essentially a viral brain disease spread from infected mammals, there is a cure but if it spreads to the nervous system you can kiss a sorry goodbye to a pleasant existence.

Infected patients can be unaware that they have caught the disease, which can be transmitted by dogs, cats, livestock, foxes and even bats, as it can lay dormant for up to two years. Once full on rabies has taken hold you can look forward to confusion, terror, hallucinations, paralysis, paranoia, brain damage and more often than not, death.

It's no wonder, then, that governments do what they can to keep it out of their countries. Apart from the odd bat, most of Western Europe has been rabies free for some time. Although, the threat is still real and 55,000 people a year die from it.

Thanks to the recession, the number of stray animals in parts of mainland Europe has increased by up to 90 percent. Without proper care such strays are far more likely to come in to contract with rabies. Even if just a few more dogs were to contract the disease it has the potential to spread like wild fire, and once surrounded by rabid dogs humans would stand little chance.

Given our government's instance on keeping us safe beyond our will, it would be unlikely it would maintain trade with infected countries. Having no trade partners we would be forced to become a self-sufficient island rather like we were during World War II. However, things have changed dramatically since then. For starters, there were only 46 million people living in the UK back in 1939 and now there are 61 million.

We might well dig for victory, but there will no doubt be twice as many stealing for victory! Stretched to breaking point our government could try and enforce martial law. But due to recent scandals few will trust this heavy-handed gesture. Civil war is likely and the UK would not be a very safe place at all.

How to surviveMany would want to flee in order to escape heavy rationing and war, only to be confronted by packs of rabid dogs. Those with shotguns will be able to blow the heads off attacking animals but bullets are a finite resource and eventually you would have to make do with anything that you find.

Individuals are much less likely to survive attacks from packs of dogs due to being overpowered or being caught off guard. Small tribes may walk the plains of Europe armed with baseball bats, umbrellas and long sticks.

Hugging the coast can be an option. When I was chased by a rabid dog in a Bedouin village on the Sinai Peninsula it stop chasing the near I got to the Red Sea. Due to the incubation period it would pay to be wary of anyone in your tribe as they could be harbouring the virus.

Those that survived against all odds would be clinging to shorelines a paranoid, umbrella-carrying population -- perhaps a cross between The Avengers and Night Of The Living Dead!